1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to data processing and in particular to improving efficiency of data access, distribution and modification within distributed databases containing diverse event notifications. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method and computer program product for generating, accessing, distributing and/or modifying events in multiple business control databases that contain event reminders.
2. Description of the Related Art
The profusion of business control schedules, representing processes wherein distributed employees and organizations must complete activities that define the operational compliance of a business with defined standards, has created an entangled and incomprehensible web of activities that must be performed by employees and organizations. Application of these processes runs from governmental compliance such as environmental, health, safety, and accounting regulation to business certifications such as ISO9000 and internal procedures such as information technology and security. In many industrial organizations, employees find themselves bombarded with multiple sets of business controls compliance tasks, coming from multiple sources, with no integrated system for delivery or prioritization.
Conventionally, distributed database systems define and store records, such as user IDs, user groups and other information in a variety of different locations and storage systems related to specific functions. The existing standards-based information storage and retrieval methods (e.g. Distributed Computing Environment (DCE), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Network Information System (NIS+) and others) were designed to serve disparate purposes.
As can be foreseen from the description of each of the task types listed above, the emphasis on compliance with individual processes has encourage conflicting demands on employees. Further, because of the different purposes driving the designs of the business control procedures listed above, each procedure set has tended to reside within its own administrative tools, requiring employees to learn those tools.
There is presently no adequate mechanism for managing events in multiple business control databases. The increasing need for employees to comply with multiple such business control systems has created an unfulfilled and increasing need for unified management of business control tasks, particularly in large organizations. What is needed is a way to enable integrated interaction with business control schedule events, which are distributed across several storage locations and tied to different tasks, for consolidated management of business control tasks.